Unaware
by Lealah Lupin III
Summary: No man had ever caught a woman unaware...until the night Captain Gregg decided to leave his Lucia to her life. Based on the 1947 movie. Explanation inside. K plus for alluding to sexual content.


Disclaimer: I don't own The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, nor any of the characters mentioned in this fanfic.

A/N: Just a short piece from Captain Gregg's point of view about when he left Lucy in the movie with one minor change. The first three times I saw this movie I spent most of this scene yelling "KISS HER!" at the tv. So, yes, most of this fic is self-servicing but I thought I'd post it to see if anyone else liked it. Oh, and this fanfic is based on the movie made in 1947, not the television show. Don't pm me or review me asking why I got Mrs. Muir's name wrong, because I didn't. I'm sorry it's in the category for the television show, I didn't know where else to put it. Enjoy!

Unaware

Captain Daniel Gregg stood by the open window in his old bedroom watching the love of his afterlife sleep. The woman he was watching slip away to a blasted, perfumed parlor-snake scoundrel. The woman that he couldn't have. He'd made his decision and no matter how much it hurt, he would stick by it. It was for her best interest, after all, because after she discovered the lounge-lizard she would be free to pursue her life free of the influence of the good dead sea captain.

"I thought you were the one woman with sense," he started, leaning against the telescope. "But you're like all the rest of them. Fall for any man who promises you the moon and end by taking you for all that you can give." She stirred slightly, and he glanced over at her tenderly. "Oh, don't trouble yourself, m'dear, it isn't your fault. You've made your choice, the only choice you could make." He strode forward to stand at her bedside. "You've chosen life and that's how it should be…whatever the reckoning…" His voice trailed off and he had to steel himself again. He was a proud sea captain, not some lily-livered coward who couldn't even speak to a sleeping woman! His voice was strong when he spoke again.

"That's why I'm going away, m'dear. Oh I…I can't help you now. I can only confuse you and destroy whatever chance you have left for happiness. You have to make your own life, amongst the living. A life I can't be a part of." This was the most important part, now. He sat beside her on the bed, his nose mere inches from her sleeping, beautiful face, his arms on either side of her body. The position brought memories to him of something visceral and instinctual that only the living can participate in. Despite his claims that you needed flesh to have desires of the flesh, he still remembered what it was like to be with a woman. He'd never missed it too much before now, in this exact moment. He swallowed hard before he spoke.

"Lucia, listen to me. Listen to me, m'dear. You've been dreaming…dreaming of a sea captain who haunted this house. Of the talk you've had with him, of time spent with him, even of a book you wrote together. But Lucia, _you_ wrote the book, you and no one else- - the book you imagined from this house, from his picture on the wall," he told her carefully. "It's all been a dream and in the morning and in the years after you'll remember it as a dream, and it'll die as all dreams do." He tried to think if he had forgotten anything. No, that should be sufficient. Now she would think of him as a fantasy instead of the ghost who haunted Gull Cottage. She would be free of him, free to fall in love again and live her life without being tied to someone who couldn't return her love in the way she deserved. Suddenly, he realized that his face was still very close to hers.

Once he told her that since Eve took the apple from the tree, no man had ever taken a woman unaware. From this angle, however, he could see how it would be possible. For him, at least. Which was a far cry from that lounge lizard being able to. He stared at her lips, swallowing hard again. He wondered if she would feel anything if he tried to kiss her, if _he_ would feel anything. Every now and then he would feel _something_ when he passed through a solid object. Occasionally in a burst of emotion or need he could affect objects around him, like when he tossed Lucia's in-laws out. Maybe, just maybe…

He allowed his face to grow closer and closer to hers until he would have been able to feel her breath on his lips if he had been alive. He kept staring down at her sleeping form a little longer and her lips parted slightly and her face rose just so, almost in anticipation for what they both know could never happen. She was so beautiful, and so close… Finally, he let the gap close and slowly let his lips hover on hers. He thought that if he willed it hard enough, if he wanted it bad enough, if he could only concentrate enough that he could make the kiss corporeal…but all he could feel was the slight tingle he usually felt when he tried to pass through a solid object. If he tried to press any harder, he would have passed through her. Sadly, he pulled himself up and stood. He was a fool to think that he could actually do it…

He walked back to the window and turned back to look at her tenderly. "What we've missed, Lucia. What we've both missed. Goodbye, m'dear," he said finally. Slowly, so slowly he started to fade away, first his legs, then his chest and arms, and finally, as if he didn't want to lose sight of her, his face disappeared until he was gone, leaving her asleep in the bed that had once belonged to him. She wouldn't know it, but he would continue to watch over her and wait for her until she departed and they could both finally be together.


End file.
